Ambassador Yehuda Avner, a speechwriter, advisor and confidante to five Israeli prime ministers, died today at 86. A native of Manchester, England, Avner emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine in 1947 and fought in Israel’s War of Independence.

The Times of Israel recounted Avner’s career:

Avner, a member of The Times of Israel’s editorial board, was secretary and speechwriter to prime ministers Levi Eshkol and Golda Meir, and adviser to prime ministers Yitzhak Rabin, Menachem Begin and Shimon Peres. Later he represented Israel as a diplomat in New York and Washington, and eventually as Israeli ambassador to Great Britain and non-resident ambassador to the Republic of Ireland (1983-1988), and ambassador to Australia (1992-1995). …

Avner saved the confidential notes he took at all the high-level meetings he attended over the decades and made them the basis for his memoir. He admitted to The Times of Israel that he had probably broken the law by stashing away all those notes, but figured he’d be let off the hook given the circumstances.

Avner ended up sitting in those private meetings as a result of his having been seconded to the Prime Minister’s Office after joining Israel’s Foreign Service in 1958, following a stint as the national director of the Bnei Akiva youth movement in Britain. A Modern Orthodox Jew, Avner (born Haffner) had immigrated to pre-state Israel in 1947 after completing high school in his native Manchester, England. He fought in the siege of Jerusalem in the 1948 War of Independence, and went on to help found Kibbutz Lavi, a religious kibbutz in Israel’s north before moving temporarily back to the UK.

The notes Avner took served as a basis for his highly acclaimed book, The Prime Ministers, and the related film.

As confidante to five prime ministers, the stories that shaped Avner’s life were pieces of national history. As he told the Times, “Only after I finished my book did I realize that I was living the first 50 years of Israeli history. I never set out to write a history.”

Over the years, many of the stories that were included in the book were published elsewhere. Avner fought around Jerusalem on May 14, 1948, when David Ben-Gurion declared Israel’s independence and the modern state of Israel came into existence.

Utter silence followed, broken only by the crunch of rushing feet, panting breath, and the winded cry of Leopold Mahler running out of the blackness into the light of the hurricane lamp by the stone ruin, shouting, “I have news. I have news.” …

“Has Ben-Gurion declared independence, yes or no?” asked Linder, beside himself with impatience.

“David Ben-Gurion declared independence this afternoon in Tel Aviv. The Jewish state comes into being at midnight.”

There was a dead silence. Midnight was minutes away. Even the air seemed to be holding its breath.

Nineteen years later, Avner joined Prime Minister Levi Eshkol on his visit to President Lyndon Johnson to ask for help in rebuilding Israel’s air force after the Six Day War in 1967. Specifically, Eshkol asked the president for the advanced F-4 Phantom jet.

The President suggested another brief break for consultations, after which he said in summation, “I think we can agree on three objectives. First, there is the need to do what we can to bring about a stable peace. Second, we are all anxious to deter, if possible, an arms race. Third, the United States has a hope and a purpose of assuring, if necessary, adequate equipment to the Israel Air Force to defend itself. And in connection with this goal I suggest that the following sentence be written into our joint communiqué at the conclusion of this session.”

He picked up a paper, and read, “The President agreed to keep Israel’s defense capability under active and sympathetic review in light of all the relevant factors, including the shipment of military equipment by others into the area.” To this he added by way of explanation, “This statement will be helpful in deterring the Arabs, and might even push them toward restraint. It also says to the Soviets, ‘Stop, look, and listen.’ And it gives you something concrete, Mr. Prime Minister, to stand on.” …

Lyndon B. Johnson kept his word. Historically, a profound change in the relationship between Jerusalem and Washington was set in motion. America threw in its strategic lot with Israel, so that, henceforth, it would become Israel’s main source of sophisticated weaponry.

In addition to noticing the details that characterized important moments in history, Avner also had an eye for irony. After recounting a confrontation between Prime Minister Golda Meir and Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, who was Jewish, over the latter’s plan to close a Jewish Agency facility in the city of Schoenau that had been used a transit point for Soviet Jews to get to Israel in the 1970’s, Avner added:

Postscript: Schoenau was shut down, but Golda Meir’s remonstrations triggered such an international whirl of protest that the Austrian chancellor had no choice but to offer alternative arrangements. One day a few years later, after Menachem Begin assumed the premiership (1977), I was about to walk into the room of his bureau chief, Yehiel Kadishai, when a bedraggled-looking fellow in a battered trilby hat and a tattered raincoat, whom I recognized as a peddler of matches in downtown Jerusalem, walked out. “What’s that hawker doing here?” I asked. “Do you know him?” “Sure.” said Yehiel, his face deadpan. “His name is Kreisky.” “Kreisky who?” “Shaul Kreisky, brother of the chancellor of Austria, Bruno Kreisky.” My mouth dropped open. “You’re pulling my leg,” I said. “No I’m not. He’s been living here for years. The prime minister occasionally helps him out. He’s a great fan of Begin. Run after him and ask him.” I did. It was true.

The confrontation between Meir and Kreisky took place just three days before the Yom Kippur War broke out in 1973.

Avner is survived by his wife, four children and grandchildren.

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